It was just in the newspaper – how the mailman delivered the post while the owners held back the big snarling dog; meanwhile the little dog dived between them, jumped up and drew blood from the postie’s leg!

Just one of the many reasons why realtors and prospective house buyers alike do not like to view an empty home with a dog in it! Of course he is friendly – and yet …..why take the chance?

Pointing out the problems of showing a home that also houses a pet can often make pet-owners defensive; it is often inconceivable to them that their little “Tootsie” would offend! Even the most friendly of pets can become troubled about strange people coming into their home.

One of the solutions often used is to shut them in the laundry room, which will then make most prospective buyers want to give your laundry room a miss. If they do brave it and open the door, the dog rushes out, maybe too over- friendly at the chance to finally interact with ‘friends’ and plants its paws prints all over their new cream pants.

What’s worse, the dog will not go back in the laundry room and the realtor can’t seem to leave the house without the dog coming too! This type of scenario is not in your favor, as it does rather distract the prospective buyer from remembering the unique points about your home – although they will remember the color of your dog!

It would help if the dog was in the garage or some place where a) there is alot of fresh air and b) where it is not necessary for the buyers to enter. The laundry room will certainly have a ‘doggie’ smell after your pet has roared around it all day, whereas the garage has fresh air coming in from all sides.

This brings us to the smell of the home, another touchy subject. Often non-pet owners will notice a smell in a house that seems associated with a pet. When the dog bounds up to confirm this suspicion, many possible buyers will start to wonder if they will be able to get rid of the smell once the dog has moved out.

Rather than putting your friends on the spot by asking them if your home has its own smell, play it safe and assume that it does. If you have a pet, wash all its blankets and keep them clean. Encourage your pet to sleep outside more often if possible. This clean routine will apply to other pets in the house: guinea pigs and hamsters can also leave an odor in the home, but this does usually go when the cage is removed.

The new type of air fresheners that plug in and keep the air sweet for 24/7 are very effective. However, if they do manage to disguise the smell of a dog, they will not be able to fool anyone who has a real allergy to your pet.

Some buyers have allergies and they do not care if they see an animal or not – they simply do not want to go into a house if an animal even lives there. This is especially true for people with a severe allergy to cats.

In these cases, you have to come clean and be up front with the realtor; even if you have removed all traces of cat. The troublesome allergens just float in the air and are completely undetected by most of the human race.

The prospective buyers will have to trust that if the listing realtor says no animals, he is speaking the truth – so ‘fess up and don’t put your realtor in the dog house.